Epic 30 Day Challenge Reflections

Random Observation/Comment #318: In the words of Portal’s GLaDOS: “Still Alive.”

kyoto tori gates

The Epic 30 Day challenge is complete! Woohoo! Balloons? Shot of Blue Label? Happy Birthday to me?

I’ve spent the past 48 hours driving, eating, napping, chatting, eating, sleeping, eating, napping, chatting, etc.  It’s been very good distancing myself from the internet and any level of work as to celebrate the long string of productivity.  Maybe these past few days of relaxation is the essence of happiness and accomplishment – it’s the time to unwind and bring balance to a life of deadlines.  I hope everyone else is doing the same with their holidays.

In the challenge, I’ve: project managed, drawn, cooked, written postcards, wrote blog posts, took event photos, took fashion photos, reflected on my masters projects, reread articles, went through travel photos, created a photo book, volunteered, raised money for cancer, created gifs for shaving my mustache and getting a mohawk, learned some contra dancing, joined a few communities, played table tennis (a lot), digitized photos, ate a kickass tasting menu, drank a kickass whiskey tasting menu, took an antigravity fitness class, and did a lot of silent reflecting.

Conclusions:
In order to make this challenge more reasonable, I made a lot of adjustments along the way by replacing some of the more dependent tasks with fun ones.  The challenge was not meant to be stressful and make me anti-social, but rather to make me enjoy the little things about the world.  There were some nights that I needed to choose writing blog posts over drinking with friends, but I think I made the right decisions.

I stayed true to this promise I made to myself and it put a lot of the external toxins in moderation.  I decided not to publish the book or get the tattoo because I wanted to keep the peace (some people I know would have not been too happy).  Although it’s my body and my ideas, I rather do it naturally than put it on a list with a due date.  It will happen when it wants to happen (probably at the next 30 day challenge).

Lessons Learned:

  • Take ownership and Challenge yourself. An idle mind is a wasted one.  If you do not challenge yourself with side tasks, no one else will.  This relates to taking the initiative on your work projects as well as your personal ones.  Taking ownership of your career and setting your own goals will get things done.
  • Dynamically adjust. Shit happens and you need to be flexible enough to stray from your original plan. Embrace change because that’s when the fun opportunities arise.
  • Talk about ideas instead of people.  When in a conversation with others, I’ve found it more interesting to discuss ideas and dreams instead of gossiping or complaining about different situations. When conversations focus on ideas, I feel like more steps are taken towards change and the community can help more actively.
  • Revisit your passions. A lot of times, school and relationships caused a lot of sacrifices of personal passions.  You may have been an awesome skateboarder or loved to make shadow hand puppets, but that skateboard was just not the socially acceptable way to get to work anymore or the light bothered your gf while you made bird noises – whatever it may be, it will make you smile when you do it again. You will not notice the time fly by when you do something you enjoy.
  • Manage your time effectively.  There’s always something to do with your free time.  Make sure you know what that is when you have that free time because your free time is fleeting. It’s rarely a Saturday afternoon for 5 hours of quiet “me time”. It’s usually just 15 minutes…  You can do a lot in 15 minutes.
  • Be a part of a community. Share your ideas and build your community of those who listen and contribute.  Find people who make you happy and make sure you grow as a group.

Now what?
My list of desires keep growing and I want to keep striving to complete more tasks.  Without the management and deadlines of completing these projects, I don’t think they would ever get done. I have a new list of challenges brewing in my mind, and the next 30 day challenge will start soon.  I think the caveat to this new 30 day challenge is that I need to do all of these tasks with friends from my web of peeps.  I am always open to suggestions.

Happy Holidays to all! Health and Happiness.

~See Lemons Reflect